Nebula Awards Showcase 2008 Read online

  Praise for Nebula Awards Showcase 2007…

  “Resnick has done a commendable job of choosing representative new work…. The vast majority of the stories included are simply wonderful and absolutely deserve recognition…. Bottom line: This year’s Nebula Showcase actually succeeds in showcasing a great variety of truly good work. Read it now.”

  —InterGalactic Medicine Show

  “The annual Nebula Awards Showcase anthologies always have something interesting to offer up…. There are plenty of solid, entertaining pieces in this anthology.”

  —Subterranean

  “As always, a fine anthology.”

  —Alternative Worlds

  …and for the previous volumes

  “Would serve well as a one-volume text for a course in contemporary science fiction.”

  —The New York Review of Science Fiction

  “Reading all of Nebula Awards Showcase 2002 is a way of reading a bunch of good stories. It is also a very good way to explore the writing of tomorrow.”

  —John Clute, scifi.com

  “Conveys a sense of the vitality and excitement that have characterized the field’s internal dialogues and debate over the last few years. One of the most entertaining Nebula volumes in years.”

  —Locus

  “Stellar…. This is not only a must-read for anyone with an interest in the field, but a pleasure to read…. That’s more reassuring than surprising, of course, given that this collection has little if any agenda besides quality writing, but it is reassuring to see that so many fresh voices are so much fun…. Worth picking up.”

  —SF Revu

  “While the essays offer one answer to the question of where does SF go now, the stories show that science fiction writers continue to reexamine their vision of the future. It’s a continuing dialogue, and by including critical essays along with the stories, the Nebula Awards Showcase 2002 does more to present the SF field as an ongoing conversation and discussion of ideas than any of the other best of the year anthologies. It’s a worthy contribution and a good volume to have on your shelf.”

  —SF Site

  “Every fan will have their favorites; there’s pretty much something for everyone…. Overall, Nebula Awards Showcase 2006 gets it right. I judge it a keeper.”

  —Scifi Dimensions

  “[A] quality mix of literary SF and fantasy with critical essays.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “An essential index of one year in SF and fantasy.”

  —Booklist

  “The variety of taste shown by the SFWA continues to be striking and heartening.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Invaluable, not just for the splendid fiction and lively nonfiction, but as another annual snapshot, complete with grins and scowls.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  NEBULA AWARDS© SHOWCASE 2008

  THE YEAR’S BEST SF AND FANTASY

  Selected by the Science Fiction and

  Fantasy Writers of America©

  EDITED BY

  Ben Bova

  ROC

  Published by New American Library,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi–110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:

  80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  ISBN: 1-4362-0175-6

  Copyright © Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 2008

  Additional copyright notices can be found

  All rights reserved

  REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  In the works of fiction published in this volume, names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors’ rights is appreciated.

  CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  by Ben Bova

  ABOUT THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA

  NEBULA AWARD, BEST SHORT STORY, “ECHO,”

  by Elizabeth Hand

  NEBULA AWARD, BEST NOVELLA, “BURN,”

  by James Patrick Kelly

  ALL OUR YESTERDAYS…” ANTHOPOLOGY 101: THE BOOKS THAT SAVED SFWA”

  by Bud Webster

  NEBULA AWARD, BEST NOVELETTE, “TWO HEARTS,”

  by Peter S. Beagle

  POETRY: THE RHYSLING AWARD WINNERS, “SCIENCE FICTION POETRY,”

  by Joe Haldeman

  RHYSLING SHORT POEM WINNER, “THE STRIP SEARCH,”

  by Mike Allen

  RHYSLING LONG POEM WINNER, “THE TIN MEN,”

  by Kendall Evans and David C. Kopaska-Merkel

  RHYSLING DWARF STARS AWARD, “KNOWLEDGE OF,”

  by Ruth Berman

  QUO VADIS? “THE STATE OF AMAZING, ASTOUNDING, FANTASTIC FICTION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY,”

  by Orson Scott Card

  NEBULA AWARD NOMINEE, SHORT STORY, “THE WOMAN IN SCHRÖDINGER’S WAVE EQUATIONS,”

  by Eugene Mirabelli

  GRAND MASTER AWARD, “JAMES GUNN, GRAND MASTER,”

  by John Kessel

  “THE LISTENERS,”

  by James Gunn

  NEBULA AWARD, BEST SCRIPT, HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, “BOOK TO FILM,”

  by Diana Wynne Jones

  NEBULA AWARD, BEST NOVEL, SEEKER,

  by Jack McDevitt (excerpt)

  TOMORROW AND TOMORROW…, “I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE—AND IT AIN’T GOT A LOT OF DEAD TREES IN IT,”

  by Mike Resnick

  THE ANDRÉ NORTON AWARD, “MAGIC OR MADNESS,”

  by Justine Larbalestier

  ABOUT THE NEBULA AWARDS

  PAST NEBULA AWARD WINNERS

  THE AUTHORS EMERITI

  NEBULA AWARDS© SHOWCASE 2008

  INTRODUCTION

  BEN BOVA

  I’ve had a love affair with science fiction since I first learned to read. In fact, one of my incentives for learning to read was Action Comics, featuring Superman.

  I can still see that dazzling illustrat
ion showing a rocket ship fleeing from the exploding planet Krypton. Talk about “sense of wonder”! It knocked me on my five-year-old butt. And started a lifelong fascination with astronomy, rocketry, and (of course) science fiction.

  That one image taught me an important lesson: The universe changes, sometimes abruptly, dramatically, catastrophically. And the literature of change is the aforementioned genre of science fiction.

  It was a ghetto literature then. Respectable people disdained science fiction, branding it as trashy pulp fiction, not worthy of serious consideration.

  But I loved it. From swashbuckling John Carter on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Barsoom to Isaac Asimov’s “The Ugly Little Boy,” I saw much more in science fiction than in most of the contemporary literature being published then. I devoured the pages of Astounding Science Fiction and, later, Galaxy and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

  Yet even by the time I began working on the first American artificial satellite program, Vanguard, I found that even professional rocket engineers still hid their copies of Astounding Science Fiction magazine in the bottom drawer of their desks.

  Then came SFWA. Originally called Science Fiction Writers of America, the organization broadened its scope eventually to become Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (although it officially retained the acronym SFWA), in recognition of the true breadth of the field.

  SFWA began in the fertile mind of Damon Knight. He and his wife, Kate Wilhelm, hosted the annual Milford Science Fiction Writers Conference in their Pennsylvania home each summer. One year, Damon proposed that we create a professional organization, by, of, and for the writers in our field.

  The rest, as they say, is history. It may be coincidence, but as SFWA began to establish the professional integrity of science fiction and fantasy, universities began taking the field seriously and teaching courses in it. And book publishers started to realize that science fiction and fantasy appeals to a very wide audience, thanks in no small measure to publishers and editors such as Ian Ballantine and Judy-Lynn del Rey.

  It didn’t hurt, of course, that TV’s Star Trek and Hollywood blockbusters such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars opened the eyes of hundreds of millions of viewers to the same “sense of wonder” that smacked me when I first saw the planet Krypton explode.

  Today science fiction and fantasy have infiltrated (conquered, I’m tempted to say) just about every facet of popular culture, from romance novels to Broadway musicals, from television series to university studies of “alternate futures.”

  Science fiction and fantasy have matured. And so has SFWA. The organization is thriving, and has been a strong advocate for writers in their never-ending struggles with publishers and producers who would like to take the fruit of a writer’s genius and labor without paying fairly for it.

  Since 1966 the members of SFWA have given Nebula Awards to the stories and screenplays they consider the best of the year. This is the most coveted award in the field, bestowed on writers by their fellow writers.

  Each year the Nebula Award winners are showcased in an anthology. You hold in your hands the Nebula Showcase 2008, which features the award winners of 2006. Within the covers of this book you can see what SFWA’s members considered the best work of that year: the award winners in each category, the Grand Masters and Authors Emeriti, plus a trio of essays discussing the past, present, and future of the science fiction and fantasy field.

  You will see the Rhysling Award–winning poems, essays on the Best Script Nebula and the André Norton Award for young adult fiction, as well as a broad variety of story types, themes, and treatments. Which is only natural, since the field of science fiction and fantasy encompasses all of time, all of space, all of the universe within the human soul—and then some.

  Have an exciting journey!

  Ben Bova

  Naples, Florida

  June 2007

  ABOUT THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA

  The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Incorporated (SFWA), includes among its members most of the active writers of science fiction and fantasy. According to the bylaws of the organization, its purpose is “to promote the furtherance of the writing of science fiction, fantasy, and related genres as a profession.” SFWA informs writers on professional matters, protects their interests, and helps them in dealings with agents, editors, anthologists, and producers of nonprint media. It also strives to encourage public interest in and appreciation of science fiction and fantasy.

  Anyone may become an active member of SFWA after the acceptance of payment for one professionally published novel, one professionally produced dramatic script, or three professionally published pieces of short fiction. Only science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other prose fiction of a related genre, in English, shall be considered as qualifying for active membership. Beginning writers who do not yet qualify for active membership may join as associate members; other classes of membership include illustrator members (artists), affiliate members (editors, agents, reviewers, and anthologists), estate members (representatives of the estate of active members who have died), and institutional members (high schools, colleges, universities, libraries, broadcasters, film producers, futurist groups, and individuals associated with such an institution).

  Anyone who is not a member of SFWA may subscribe to The Bulletin of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The magazine is published quarterly and contains articles by well-known writers on all aspects of their profession. Subscriptions are twenty-one dollars per year or thirty dollars for two years. For information on how to subscribe to the Bulletin, or for more information about SFWA, write to:

  SFWA, Inc.

  P.O. Box 877

  Chestertown, MD 21620

  USA

  Readers are also invited to visit the SFWA site on the World Wide Web at www.sfwa.org.

  NEBULA AWARD, BEST SHORT STORY

  ECHO

  ELIZABETH HAND

  Elizabeth Hand is the multiple-award-winning author of nine novels, including Generation Loss, Mortal Love, and Illyria, as well as three collections of short fiction, the most recent of which is Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories. She is a longtime contributor to the Washington Post Book World, the Village Voice, and Down East magazine, among numerous others, and writes a regular column for Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine. She lives on the coast of Maine with her two teenage children and her partner, British critic John Clute. She is currently working on a novel about Arthur Rimbaud, titled Wonderwall.

  About “Echo” she writes:

  “Echo” grew from my long epistolary friendship with journalist David Streitfeld. We’ve only met a handful of times since 1988, but have corresponded regularly since then. My novels Mortal Love and Generation Loss are dedicated to David, along with the four post-9/11 stories that comprise “The Lost Domain” sequence, published separately but collected in toto in Saffron and Brimstone.

  The phrase “the lost domain” comes from Alain-Fournier’s 1913 novel The Wanderer (Le Grand Meaulnes). The nature of inspiration and desire, the relationship of the muse to an artist—these were the things David and I talked about endlessly, and most of the work I’ve done in the new millennium has been informed by these discussions. “The Lost Domain” was a protracted effort on my part to shape these ideas into fiction, and “Echo” was the first story in the sequence.

  In September 2002, David went on assignment to Baghdad to write about what was then euphemistically termed “the rebuilding effort.” We were out of touch during his stint there, though, unlike other journalists and far too many soldiers, he returned safely home to write about the experience. “Echo” grew out of the dread I felt during that time, along with the surreal sense of horror and isolation that continues to shade our post-9/11 world.

  ECHO

  ELIZABETH HAND

  This is not the first time this has happened. I’ve been here every time it has. Always I learn about it the same way, a m
essage from someone five hundred miles away, a thousand, comes flickering across my screen. There’s no TV here on the island, and the radio reception is spotty: the signal comes across Penobscot Bay from a tower atop Mars Hill, and any kind of weather—thunderstorms, high winds, blizzards—brings the tower down. Sometimes I’m listening to the radio when it happens, music playing, Nick Drake, a promo for the Common Ground Country Fair; then a sudden soft explosive hiss like damp hay falling onto a bonfire. Then silence.

  Sometimes I hear about it from you. Or, well, I don’t actually hear anything: I read your messages, imagine your voice, for a moment neither sardonic nor world-weary, just exhausted, too fraught to be expressive. Words like feathers falling from the sky, black specks on blue.

  The Space Needle. Sears Tower. LaGuardia Airport. Golden Gate Bridge. The Millennium Eye. The Bahrain Hilton. Sydney, Singapore, Jerusalem.

  Years apart at first; then months; now years again. How long has it been since the first tower fell? When did I last hear from you?

  I can’t remember.

  This morning I took the dog for a walk across the island. We often go in search of birds, me for my work, the wolfhound to chase for joy. He ran across the ridge, rushing at a partridge that burst into the air in a roar of copper feathers and beech leaves. The dog dashed after her fruitlessly, long jaw sliced open to show red gums, white teeth, a panting unfurled tongue.

  “Finn!” I called and he circled round the fern brake, snapping at bracken and crickets, black splinters that leapt wildly from his jaws. “Finn, get back here.”